House Republicans signaled Thursday that they are prepared to restore money cut from food assistance and law enforcement as part of a spending compromise bill which the Appropriations leadership hopes to negotiate with the Senate by Nov. 14.

“It’s an ambitious schedule but I’m looking at a lot of ambitious people,” said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), clearly delighted to be back at the bargaining table after what’s been a nearly two-year hiatus in such House-Senate conferences. “The time has come to make the best of a bad situation,” answered Senate Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), “And to move forward with our bills as rapidly and efficiently as possible.”

In keeping with the August budget accords, the final package must be under the 2011 appropriations levels, but since the House GOP began the 2012 cycle by cutting so much more this summer, billions will be added back now in the course of the talks.

The tone was set early on the House floor Thursday when 79 Republicans joined 186 Democrats on a 265-160 vote approving a non-binding resolution supportive of negotiators restoring COPS local law enforcement grants, previously cut by Rogers’ committee.

Moreover, the spending allocations that will frame the talks are their own handwriting on the wall and all show upward movement by the GOP.

As approved by the Senate Tuesday, the package now is really three bills in one, but in each case the numbers are higher.

For example, $19.6 billion has been set as the new discretionary spending target for the agriculture and rural development bill—a $2.35 billion increase over the House-passed bill in June which cut food aid overseas severely.

In the case of the Commerce, Justice and Science bill—which will decide the outcome for the COPS funding—negotiators will have $52.7 billion to work with, about $2.4 billion more than the bill reported from Rogers’ panel in July.

Finally, for transportation and housing, a $55.6 billion target has been set for discretionary spending, also higher than prior totals used by the House. The exact level of highway funding from existing trust funds remains an important open question but will almost certainly go higher than first proposed by the House committee.